Question

Draw an ERD that allows for marriages between possibly more than two people.

Short answer

The ERD will have two entities, 'Person' and 'Marriage', connected by a many-to-many relationship indicating that a person can participate in multiple marriages, and each marriage can have more than two participants.

Step-by-step solution

Define the Entities

Start by identifying the main entities in the system. In this case, the two entities will be 'Person' and 'Marriage'.

Define the Relationship

The relationship between 'Person' and 'Marriage' can be established in the form of 'A person participates in a marriage'. This relationship will be many-to-many, as one person can participate in more than one marriage and each marriage can have more than two participants.

Draw the ERD

In the ERD, 'Person' and 'Marriage' will be represented as entities, connected by a relationship. A many-to-many cardinality symbol would be used to represent the relationship between 'Person' and 'Marriage'.

Key concepts

Many-to-Many Relationship

In entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs), a many-to-many relationship is a type of relationship where multiple entities from one set can be associated with multiple entities from another set. Consider the given exercise: allowing marriages between possibly more than two people.
Such relationships are common in real-world scenarios. In this case, each 'Person' can be involved in multiple 'Marriages', and each 'Marriage' can include multiple 'Persons'. To accurately represent a many-to-many relationship in an ERD, you'll often use an intermediate table, sometimes called a join table or associative entity. This table helps to efficiently document and manage these complex connections. In a database, this might resemble something like a 'Participation' table that records every association between a person and a marriage. A many-to-many relationship is illustrated using a line connecting the two entities, with "crow's foot" symbols at both ends on the ERD. This indicates that both entities can have multiple instances connected to one another.

Entity Identification

Entity identification in ERD involves pinpointing distinct things or objects in the system that need to be represented in the database. For the problem scenario, the main entities to be identified are 'Person' and 'Marriage'. These are critical components because they encapsulate information that needs to be recorded and manipulated, like personal details and marriage records.
Entities should have a clear and unique identifier, known as a primary key, which helps in distinguishing each instance of an entity. For instance, 'Person' could be uniquely identified by a 'person_id', while 'Marriage' might be identified by a 'marriage_id'. These identifiers help maintain the integrity of the data by ensuring that each entity can be distinctly and accurately referenced across the database and any relationships.
It's essential to define entities precisely to represent each aspect of the problem domain without redundancy or omission, as this will influence how relationships are drawn and interpreted in the ERD.

Cardinality in ERD

Cardinality in ERD refers to the numerical relationships between entities. It helps clarify how many instances of one entity can relate to a single instance of another entity. In the context of our example, cardinality defines the relationship between 'Person' and 'Marriage'.
The notation in ERD for cardinality uses symbols like the 'crow's foot' to show that numerous instances exist on one or possibly both sides of the relationship. Specifically, for a many-to-many relationship, cardinality is illustrated with a line connecting the entities, each ending in a crow's foot to denote multiple associations. In our case, it indicates that one 'Person' can be part of multiple marriages and any 'Marriage' can include multiple 'Persons'.
Properly defining cardinality is crucial during the design of databases, as it directly impacts how data is stored, retrieved, and maintained. Understanding these constraints helps in preventing data anomalies and ensures that the database functions correctly in representing real-world situations.